The Last Bookaneer, two weeks away!
Two weeks until the publication of The Last Bookaneer on April 28 from Penguin Press!
Some news updates:
… My website has been renovated. Hope you'll check it out! www.matthewpearl.com
… Don't forget I might be at a bookstore near you. Make sure to check this tour list: Friday 5/1: BOSTON, MA—Harvard Bookstore, 7pm... Monday 5/4: SEATTLE, WA—Elliott Bay, 7pm... Tuesday 5/5: LOS ANGELES, CA—Vroman’s, 7pm... Wednesday 5/6: SAN DIEGO, CA—Warwick’s, 7:30pm... Thursday 5/7: DANVILLE, CA—Rakestraw Books, 7pm... Friday 5/8: CORTE MADERA, CA—Book Passage, 7pm... Monday 5/11: HOUSTON, TX—Murder by the Book, 7pm... Tuesday 5/12: ST. LOUIS, MO—Left Bank Books, 7pm... Wednesday 5/13: NAPERVILLE, IL—Anderson’s Bookshop, 7pm... Thursday 5/14: CINCINNATI, OH—Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 7pm
… Finally for now, to (hopefully) whet your appetite for the upcoming novel, I'd like to share three more reviews with you, here below, which I greatly appreciate.
From The Library Journal
goo.gl/ZyRkPs
"Don't-Miss Fiction"
Pearl, Matthew. The Last Bookaneer.
“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest. Yo-ho-ho and a trunk full of manuscripts!” At the tail end of the 19th century copyright law has yet to be established and publishers are making a killing by printing unauthorized editions. In this world of literary piracy the men and women employed to do the dirty work of procuring the unpublished texts are called bookaneers. When a young bookseller named Fergins is swept off to the South Pacific island of Samoa by his mentor Pen Davenport, he becomes involved in one of the last great adventures of bookaneering, involving dodging missionaries, cannibals, German settlers, and a dastardly competitor for a treasure of unknown value—the latest and, possibly, last novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. VERDICT This swashbuckling tale of greed and great literature will remind you why Pearl (The Dante Club; The Poe Shadow) is the reigning king of popular literary historical thrillers. His latest is guaranteed to delight lovers of history and mystery and will likely find an enthusiastic crossover audience among those who enjoy the works of Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Watcher in the Shadows), Erik Larson (In the Garden of Beasts), and Katherine Howe (The House of Velvet and Glass). —Liv Hanson, Chicago
From Booklist
Issue: April 15, 2015
The Last Bookaneer.
Pearl, Matthew (Author)
May 2015. 400 p. Penguin, hardcover, $27.95. (9781594204920).
Writing mischievously clever novels about famous writers is Pearl’s forte. His first “bookaneers” or literary pirates appeared in The Last Dickens (2009), and they now command this entire tale of obsession and nefariousness. This passionately researched and ebulliently imagined yarn is narrated by Fergins, an unassuming English book dealer who ends up in cahoots with the bookaneer Penrose Davenport, culminating in a mad voyage to Samoa, where the ailing Robert Louis Stevenson is reportedly finishing a new novel. Intent on stealing the manuscript, the duo manages to ingratiate themselves with Stevenson and his outspoken wife, Fanny, only to discover that Davenport’s archrival, Belial, is also on the scene. As the bookaneers scheme, tall, gaunt, zealous Stevenson, coughing and smoking, serves as a veritable king to the Samoans in his employ and becomes embroiled in opposition to the German occupation. As the action erupts into the sort of significant cliffhanger exploits Stevenson specialized in, Pearl’s vividly descriptive and energetically plotted novel churns and charms with intriguing literary history, acid social critique, witty dialogue, and delectably surprising and diabolical reversals and betrayals.
— Donna Seaman
From Bookpage Magazine
The Last Bookaneer is a rollicking romp in which the publishing industry is depicted as a business as scintillating as mining for gold. Equal parts adventure on teh South Seas and literary fiction set in civilized and cerebral England, this story is chock full of sly remarks skewering the publishing industry. The questions of intellectual property faced in the 1890s are just as complex and engaging as those we encounter in today's technological world. As in his previous work, Matthew Pearl seamlessly braids fact and fiction into an imaginative yarn that will enthrall bibliophiles and adventure fans alike.
Some news updates:
… My website has been renovated. Hope you'll check it out! www.matthewpearl.com
… Don't forget I might be at a bookstore near you. Make sure to check this tour list: Friday 5/1: BOSTON, MA—Harvard Bookstore, 7pm... Monday 5/4: SEATTLE, WA—Elliott Bay, 7pm... Tuesday 5/5: LOS ANGELES, CA—Vroman’s, 7pm... Wednesday 5/6: SAN DIEGO, CA—Warwick’s, 7:30pm... Thursday 5/7: DANVILLE, CA—Rakestraw Books, 7pm... Friday 5/8: CORTE MADERA, CA—Book Passage, 7pm... Monday 5/11: HOUSTON, TX—Murder by the Book, 7pm... Tuesday 5/12: ST. LOUIS, MO—Left Bank Books, 7pm... Wednesday 5/13: NAPERVILLE, IL—Anderson’s Bookshop, 7pm... Thursday 5/14: CINCINNATI, OH—Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 7pm
… Finally for now, to (hopefully) whet your appetite for the upcoming novel, I'd like to share three more reviews with you, here below, which I greatly appreciate.
From The Library Journal
goo.gl/ZyRkPs
"Don't-Miss Fiction"
Pearl, Matthew. The Last Bookaneer.
“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest. Yo-ho-ho and a trunk full of manuscripts!” At the tail end of the 19th century copyright law has yet to be established and publishers are making a killing by printing unauthorized editions. In this world of literary piracy the men and women employed to do the dirty work of procuring the unpublished texts are called bookaneers. When a young bookseller named Fergins is swept off to the South Pacific island of Samoa by his mentor Pen Davenport, he becomes involved in one of the last great adventures of bookaneering, involving dodging missionaries, cannibals, German settlers, and a dastardly competitor for a treasure of unknown value—the latest and, possibly, last novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. VERDICT This swashbuckling tale of greed and great literature will remind you why Pearl (The Dante Club; The Poe Shadow) is the reigning king of popular literary historical thrillers. His latest is guaranteed to delight lovers of history and mystery and will likely find an enthusiastic crossover audience among those who enjoy the works of Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Watcher in the Shadows), Erik Larson (In the Garden of Beasts), and Katherine Howe (The House of Velvet and Glass). —Liv Hanson, Chicago
From Booklist
Issue: April 15, 2015
The Last Bookaneer.
Pearl, Matthew (Author)
May 2015. 400 p. Penguin, hardcover, $27.95. (9781594204920).
Writing mischievously clever novels about famous writers is Pearl’s forte. His first “bookaneers” or literary pirates appeared in The Last Dickens (2009), and they now command this entire tale of obsession and nefariousness. This passionately researched and ebulliently imagined yarn is narrated by Fergins, an unassuming English book dealer who ends up in cahoots with the bookaneer Penrose Davenport, culminating in a mad voyage to Samoa, where the ailing Robert Louis Stevenson is reportedly finishing a new novel. Intent on stealing the manuscript, the duo manages to ingratiate themselves with Stevenson and his outspoken wife, Fanny, only to discover that Davenport’s archrival, Belial, is also on the scene. As the bookaneers scheme, tall, gaunt, zealous Stevenson, coughing and smoking, serves as a veritable king to the Samoans in his employ and becomes embroiled in opposition to the German occupation. As the action erupts into the sort of significant cliffhanger exploits Stevenson specialized in, Pearl’s vividly descriptive and energetically plotted novel churns and charms with intriguing literary history, acid social critique, witty dialogue, and delectably surprising and diabolical reversals and betrayals.
— Donna Seaman
From Bookpage Magazine
The Last Bookaneer is a rollicking romp in which the publishing industry is depicted as a business as scintillating as mining for gold. Equal parts adventure on teh South Seas and literary fiction set in civilized and cerebral England, this story is chock full of sly remarks skewering the publishing industry. The questions of intellectual property faced in the 1890s are just as complex and engaging as those we encounter in today's technological world. As in his previous work, Matthew Pearl seamlessly braids fact and fiction into an imaginative yarn that will enthrall bibliophiles and adventure fans alike.
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I'm looking forward to meeting you at Vroman's in Pasadena, CA!
Thanks Gerry! Really appreciate your support.
That's great Janet, look forward to seeing you at Vroman's!
'The Last Bookaneer' sounds great, I will definitely be looking out for a copy. Keep up the great work.
Regards
Gerry